The PM Time Service office will be CLOSED beginning Saturday, 02/17 through Sunday, 03/04 for our annual inventory and reconciliation project. During this time, the website will still be operational and you will be able to make purchases as normal. Then, beginning Monday, 03/05, orders will ship out and all emails and inquiries will be answered, in the order in which they were received. Thanks!

Vintage Pocket Watches

The pocket watch is an iconic timepiece that is quickly recognized across generations and cultures. As one of the earliest time keeping devices, we each have seen examples in book illustrations and movies, and in many cases, we each also have memories of someone from an earlier generation carrying, and caring for, a pocket watch of their own.

While the first pocket watches were in use during the 1600s, the scarcity of those items kept them very limited. With advancements over the following 200 years, by the 1800s there were a large number of watches available to multiple economic tiers of owners, and by the early 1900s, there were millions of pocket watches being carried in the United States alone. With the increase in production and use of the wrist watch, by the 1930s we saw the slow decline of pocket watch use. In 1969 the Hamilton Watch Company, the last American-based watch company still in production, sold their final group of watches before selling to a Swiss company and closing down. It was at this same time, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, that the quartz-movement watch heralded a new era of inexpensive, accurate timekeeping.

The majority of the pocket watches you will find here on the PM Time Service web site will have been produced between the mid-1800s and 1969, with a small portion of our catalog comprised of quartz watches produced from the 1970s to today.

For further information, examples, photos, and notes on how to wear our various styles of watches and watch accessories, please visit our How-To-Wear Guide.

You can narrow your search by going to one of the following sections, or browse all our pocket watches further below...

Our Story

Welcome to the family owned business web site for PM Time Service. Initially started as a hobby during the 1960s, our business, officially established in 1976 by Paul and Gail Zuercher, has worked steadily to provide our customers with high quality antique and vintage pocket watches, wrist watches and watch accessories. Today, Catherine Zuercher carries on the 2nd generation of service and is delighted to work with our new and returning customers to place these fine old timekeepers with new owners.